June20, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC— Representative Eliot L. Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was joined by 61 Members of Congress in calling on the President to increase resources to programs that get at the root causes of unaccompanied children migrating to the United States from Central America. Specifically, the letter recommends making significant investments in State Department and USAID programs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that focus on youth gang prevention and economic development, and investing in programs designed to reintegrate returning children into their home countries.

"As a father, my heart goes out to all of the unaccompanied children making the perilous trek from Central America to the United States,” Engel said. “Some of my colleagues have responded to the large influx of children arriving in our country by calling for harsher enforcement of our immigration laws. While we must continue to enforce our immigration statures, cracking down on children is clearly not the answer.”

"The Obama Administration has reenergized U.S. policy toward Latin America and prioritized Central America. Given the current crisis, our letter to the President asks him to build on this successful policy by providing additional resources to our partners in Central America to address the root causes of this migration pattern. This means providing new funding for programs that ensure that children do not enter gangs in the first place and promoting economic development."

The text follows:

June 19, 2014

The President

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

In light of the dramatic increase in the number of unaccompanied alien children migrating to the United States from Central America, we are writing to urge that your administration make available additional resources to address the root causes of this migration pattern. Specifically, we would recommend making significant investments in State Department and USAID programs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that focus on youth gang prevention and economic development. We also believe it is important to invest in programs designed to reintegrate returning deportees into their home countries. We are well aware of the difficult budget environment, but would urge that these initiatives receive new resources, as funding for the existing Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) is severely limited.

We are pleased that you recently increased the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office of Refugee Resettlement FY 2015 request for its unaccompanied alien children program from $868 million to $2.28 billion. At the same time, we urge you to provide new funding for programs that will get at the root causes of this migration pattern.

The Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are among the most violent in the world. In fact, Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world. Since 2005, murders of women and girls in Honduras have increased by 346 percent while murders of men and boys have increased by 292 percent. According to reports, child advocates, particularly those from Honduras and El Salvador, report accounts of children being forcibly recruited to participate in gang activities.

In FY 2009, there were 19,668 apprehensions of unaccompanied alien children in the United States. 82 percent of these children were from Mexico while 17 percent came from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. That number has vastly increased as has the proportion coming from Central America. In just the first eight months of FY 2014, there were 47,017 apprehensions of unaccompanied alien children with 73 percent from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and 25 percent from Mexico.

CARSI has been crucial in enhancing citizen security in the subregion and is important to the effort to keep children out of gangs. However, it provides limited resources. The Administration’s FY 2015 CARSI request is $130 million which is down $31.5 million from the FY 2014 request. In addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, we urge you to provide new resources rather than reprogramming sparse existing resources.

In addition to providing new funding for youth gang prevention and economic development efforts, we urge you to fund programs that help to reintegrate returning children back into society. As one example, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) – a U.S.-based NGO – runs a Guatemalan Child Return and Reintegration Project which works directly with minors deported back to Guatemala from the United States. In this program, a social worker establishes a service plan that focuses on the best interests of children, identifies safe placement options and addresses other needs. This effort or similar efforts should be funded and scaled up in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Some in Congress have responded to the large numbers of unaccompanied alien children arriving in the United States by calling for enhanced enforcement of our immigration laws. This is not the answer. In order to stem the flow of these children coming to the United States, we need to invest in efforts that both get at the root causes of this migration and discourage future migration by helping to reintegrate returnees into life in their home countries.